Wrangletown Cider Co. Original

Review of Wrangletown Cider Company’s “Original” cider. This is my first time trying their cider, and the first of four reviews of their cider lineup.

>>This is a review of a sample bottle provided to Cider Says by Wrangletown. Although I will take care to treat it the same as any other review, there is always the potential for bias as I received it for free. The only consideration I knowingly made was pushing this up in my cider review cue. I love free stuff, especially cider! Want your cider or cider-related product reviewed here? Contact me.<<

Availability: Only in Northern California. They self distribute, and have a tasting room in Arcata (open Friday thru Sunday and by appointment) in Humboldt county. The owner also said she may also be able to ship through a third party to some states if there was interest.

Cider Description:Wrangletown’s “Original” Dry Farmhouse style cider is a combination of several Northern California Orchards. It is a dry cider, lightly carbonated with fruit forward aroma and bright acidity. Made from Heirloom and Culinary apples. This cider was fermented in 74% Stainless steel and 23% used French Oak barrels.

The cidery is owned and operated by Pat Knittel, since 2015 (a one-woman show). The cidery is named after the “wrangle” town the cidermaker grew up in, which was infamous for two women brawling in the streets. The cidery had a Kickstarter campaign, successfully raising funds for equipment. Ciderpress wrote an article after touring the cidery. Here is another article on the cidery.

My Opinion: This isn’t my favorite style of cider; I usually go for a more intensely flavored cider, and I found this a bit nuanced. However, I certainly couldn’t find any faults, and didn’t dislike it. This is a more introductory farmhouse-style cider, with only hints of sourness & funk. This will likely appeal to folks who enjoy wine and milder food-friendly ciders. I always think of my personal opinion as more of an afterthought to my reviews (which is why I don’t rate ciders here). Everyone has a different taste in ciders, and every cider won’t appeal to every person.

Closing Notes:(1) I look forward to trying the other three ciders that Wrangletown sent. (2) One thing I’m a big fan of so far is that they clearly describe their cider as dry and farmhouse-style on the label. I’ve had a number of ciders that were on the extreme end of the farmhouse-style & sour spectrum, and even they weren’t labeled as such (and sometimes I couldn’t find info online saying that either). It is much appreciated as I enjoy being an informed consumer. (3) Cideries which focus on rustic farmhouse-style ciders seem to be on the rise (I’ve seen it first hand in Portland at Cider Rite of Spring), so there must be a demand.